


red is the footsteps you left behind

by doublelead



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Flowers, Introspection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-20
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-08 09:35:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10383741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doublelead/pseuds/doublelead
Summary: He breathes, wishes that he could follow the footsteps of a king in a lot more than just through a heartbeat.





	

He remembers him under a curtain of sasanqua – low branches an overhang above his head, shadows like mosaic down his shoulders. The tip of his fingers when he reaches out, his ears, his cheeks, Gladiolus’ memory of Noctis is dusted in red.

His hand is left outstretched, suspended in the air between them, towards Noctis' back. Up the stairs and into dawn, he thinks he tried instead to reach the twelve year old boy with petals weaved in-between his dark hair. Wheelchair spokes, scraped knees, sunlight streaming through frosted glass onto old-worn sneakers. 

"Walk tall, my friends."

He breathes, wishes that he could follow the footsteps of a king in a lot more than just through a heartbeat.

Gladiolus thinks of Noctis in tints of red. Dried blood across his knuckles as he bows low, strings in fairy tales cut and tangled.

He wonders, why couldn't it have been poppies then, when he sees them bloom under the king's feet now – stems winding around his ankles, up his calves, constricting, choking. 

It still wouldn't have been any easier, had he known. 

Noctis dyes the sky red in the first light, and Gladiolus catches the shadow of the citadel with the tips of his shoes. He watches it slip away – further, _furthe_ _r –_ lost under the sunshine. 

Gladiolus turns away from the steps to find the sky is a clear blue.

**Author's Note:**

> Sasanqua: devotion  
> Poppy: eternal sleep


End file.
